From Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, 1958.
Homosexuality: Constitutional anamoly in which the sexual inclinations of an individual are directed towards persons of the same sex.
Lesbian: [No listing.]
Transexual: [No listing.]
Transgender: [No listing.]
Wow. OK, first, you should know that I found this book in my Dad's library. Judging by the year and the size of the book (1839 pages,) it belonged to him in Medical School or perhaps it was my Mother's for her college work as a medical technician. In either case, it would have been considered an authoritative source of scientific thinking at that time.
So, that thinking was that homosexuality represented a "constitutional anamoly." I suppose it fits with the times - homosexuality was considered a disease, a sickness, or to put it scientifically, an anamoly. Not normal. It will be interesting to read (and report here) the layman's definitions for this same year.
This series of posts explores the changing definition of the most basic words in our community. As times change, the words change. Keep coming back to this category, as we will attempt to add other notes, observations and thoughts about how our words have changed over the years. Perhaps we can make connections to how we have changed and to how our society as changed, as well.
If you have any comments please send them using the comment form. We are simply looking up these words whenever we find a dictionary or encyclopedia, and noting the most recent copyright. Please feel free to send us your own entries.
